Last Sunday, Christian McCaffrey broke an old Jerry Rice record when he scored a touchdown in his 13th game in a row. Who knew that old Jerry Rice records were even approachable?
On Sunday night's episode of We Want Winners, Roderick and I talked about McCaffrey's value, even wondering if he's a front runner for MVP, which is almost always a quarterback award.
We then furthered the conversation around his stature when it comes to all-time 49ers running backs.
A couple of caveats here as it pertained to our discussion:
- We made sure to mention that we aren't old enough to have seen Joe Perry or anyone from the Million Dollar backfield play.
- We do understand that McCaffrey hasn't even played in enough games as a 49ers running back to equal a full season.
- Garrison Hearst is terribly underrated.
Here are the other three running backs of the modern era who CMC is chasing (from Fantasy Football Astronauts):
Roger Craig (1983-1990) | 4.2 Yds/A | 7,064 Yds | 50 TD | 508 Rec | 4,442 Rec Yds | 16 Rec TD | Led League in Rec 1985 (92) | Led League in YScm 1988 (2,036) | 4x Pro-Bowl (85, 87, 88, 89) | 1x All-Pro (88) | 1988 Offensive Player of the Year | Hall of Fame All-1980s Team
Garrison Hearst (1997-2003) | 4.7 Yds/A | 5,535 Yds | 26 TD | 174 Rec | 1,604 Rec Yds | 7 Rec TD | Led League in Yds/A 1998 (5.1) | 2x Pro-Bowl (98, 01) | 2001 Comeback Player of the Year
Frank Gore (2005-2013) | 4.5 Yds/A | 11,073 Yds | 64 TD | 342 Rec | 2,883 Rec Yds | 11 Rec TD | 5x Pro-Bowl (06, 09, 11, 12, 13) | Hall of Fame All-2010s Team
While CMC might not have enough games as a 49er under his belt to be the very best, it definitely feels like he's well on his way if he can stay healthy. So far in the regular season, he's played 15 games and rushed for 1205 yards (5.04 average) and caught 70 balls for 605 yards and combined rushing and receiving, he has 17 touchdowns. Seventeen touchdowns in just 15 games is very Jerry Rice-like.
From a flat out numbers standpoint, CMC has a ways to go. But from a value perspective, you can see why he's already in the argument, especially with the current era of football which is so passing dominant.
I think Frank Gore is the best running back in modern 49ers history with Roger Craig a close second. But if McCaffrey plays a few more years with the 49ers, the list could change.
